The Pillar and the Shield

Sunday, July 30, 2017

Towards the end of Spring term, many Tri Kaps were hyping up how great the summer was going to be. Although I did not want to get my hopes up, the summer term has truly gone above and beyond what I could possibly have hoped for. I am excited to share what we have accomplished to better the house and the Dartmouth community at large. We have genuinely grown closer as a class through the many academic, social, philanthropic, and brotherhood events. But before we get into the nitty gritty, please take a look at the most recent pillar to get more information on our recent activities and plans http://www.tri-kap.com/?q=Pillars.

First some housekeeping items: The summer exec board has taken initiatives to make the house run as smooth as possible and upgrade social spaces. We have begun seeding the grass to keep the front lawn looking clean and full. Additionally, Skyler Perot utilized his artistic skills to paint this awesome piece on the suite door.

On the academic side, Professor Ryan Hickox of the Physics and Astronomy Department invited us to a dinner at his residence, which resulted in a fantastic conversation. In addition to keeping our relationship with Professor Hickox strong, we are also planning an scheduling an academic talk with Professor Kohn from the Economics Department.

Socially, we have had tails with a multitude of sororities. Drew Leonard and Tony Dipadova have been doing a great job coming up with new themes. For our semi-formal with Kappa Delta, we had a 'Red Carpet' theme with a Oscars style banner.

Although all of us have been having a great time, we have not forgotten our mission to better the community at large. We had a 100% participation and volunteer rate for The Prouty, which helped raise funds for cancer research and important patient services at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Norris Cotton Cancer center.

The programming chairs have been taking full advantage of the beautiful scenery and weather New Hampshire has to offer. The overnight cabin trip to Nunnemacher, Fourth of July festivities, parents weekend BBQ, and more have genuinely made the summer term stand head and shoulders above any other.

Shebalite and Splendaplum also preformed at the Great Hall for a full capacity performance!

Additionally, we ventured outside of Hanover to the beautiful island of Nantucket courtesy of Daniel Lein and his family. The food and beaches were pure bliss.

Finally, we are planning for Tri Kap's 175th Anniversary, during the Homecoming weekend of October 6-8, 2017. The undergraduates, along with Keith, digitized many interesting historical documents and pictures and a banquet dinner is scheduled for Saturday October 7th. Keep an eye out for more details to come!

Tuesday, May 16, 2017

With Greenkey weekend upon us the brotherhood is anxiously awaiting the return of so many alums. The weekend will surely be one to remember, or one to put the fragmented pieces of memory back together. Regardless, we're all excited for what surely will be an awesome time. That being said, I'd like to give you all a brief recap on some of the great things the house has been up to over the past few weeks. The spring term has been a busy one, with a number of brotherhood events and frequent alumni visits taking place. But before we get into the revelries of this term, take a look at the House's last few terms through the Pillar! The most recent and a number of past Pillars can be found on the Tri Kap website at: http://trikap.com/?q=Pillars

Now to get into the nitty gritty:

July 13, 1842 saw the dawn of the college fraternity, and it all started right here in our hallowed halls. This year brings the 175th anniversary of the Kappa Lodge! Members of both the undergraduate executive and alumni boards are coming together to create an event around this momentous occasion. This Homecoming will be accompanied by an all out anniversary bash. Details are in the works, but the undergrads hope to see an absolutely overwhelming number of alums coming back to celebrate. So please, start making plans to come visit for Homecoming this Fall. Anyone with suggestions for events or activities please reach out to me at Berlinghof3@gmail.com.

Spring started off with a bang as the boys took a trip down to Cancun, Mexico for Spring Break 2017! Staying at the Grand Oasis Hotel brothers enjoyed the multitude of swim up bars, beach side dance parties, and night clubs. The week long trip was a marathon, but as Tri Kaps tend to sprint marathons, it was a welcomed challenge.

Next stop on the tour was Montreal, Canada. Joined by recent graduate Josh Tupler '16, the boys set up camp in a remote Kappa Lodge. There was pool, poker, and general bro time before nights filled with bar hops and club scenes. This trip has become a brotherhood favorite, having been conducted three out of the past four terms.

The brothers returned home and put in work. Elections for the '19s summer term finalized the exec board for next term. The board consists of quality guys who have shown their loyalty to the house since their "education" period this past year. President Johnny Emmanuel '19 will surely lead the charge towards another great Tri Kap summer.

Socially the house has been on point the past few weekends. Semi-Formal with Kappa Delta sorority saw the debut of many new basement fixtures which have made their mark since. The event brought strobe and laser lights into the basement to completely change the ambiance into a bumping dance club. In addition the brothers and sisters bathed one another in neon paint, all of which was illuminated by new black lights installed in the basement as well. The event was a great success and possibly a recurring feature of Tri Kap's social scene.

It gives me great pride to point the spotlight to one of our undergrads and his philanthropic cause. Abraham Herrera '18 will be running a half marathon on June 4th, 2017 in recognition of The Family Place. Since 1985, The Family Place has operated as one of fifteen state subsidized Parent Child Centers. The Family Place provides local Vermont families support in the forms of child care, financial assistance, parental education and more. That being said, Abe is looking to raise $500 to help the center provide family services for the Upper Valley we all call home. To learn more about Abe's initiative in his own words and to donate to his cause, please check out the following link:https://www.z2systems.com/np/clients/familyplacevt/campaign.jsp?campaign=3&fundraiser=102&team=null&

The house has welcomed Keith Quinton '80, a local Hanover brother, to the alumni board as our new Alumni Advisor. Brothers invited Keith to a Molly's dinner on our favorite day of the week, Wednesday, followed by some pong and of course meetings. In addition, Al Forbes '82 stayed in the GOTE this past week. He is never one to shy away from a pong challenge and was a great addition to meetings this week. The undergrads love to see alums coming through, and the GOTE is really comfy I promise. Any alums making the trek back to campus, feel free to reach out to me or any current undergrads so we can best welcome you home.

Those are just some of the highlights of the term. Again, the boys here at 1 Webster are anxiously awaiting the return of our great alumni and the start to an epic Greenkey weekend. Don't forget to check out the Pillar and of course, save the date for the 175th anniversary party this Homecoming.

Tuesday, February 14, 2017

Winter carnival tore through Hanover this past weekend, and with the actual blizzard (over a foot of snow!) came other blizzards of various sorts.

The first and foremost of these was thanks to brothers Andrew JL and Chris Takeuchi, to whom we could not be more thankful for hanging out over the weekend. It was great to hear some of the stories of a slightly older Tri-Kap, and to gather some life (and pong related) wisdom from some wiley veterans. The brothers and new members alike all had a fantastic time hanging out with you guys. Please, if you're ever back in the area, give a shout.

CTak and JL being ridiculous as usual

But even as the fun raged on, the undergrads were hard at work with a number of other endeavors. Kourosh Saghri '19 and Kevin Hoffer-Hawlik '19 were hard at work on Friday night cooking up one of the greatest batches of chili this world has ever seen. With this magnificent, exotic chili, Tri-Kap entered into the annual Phi-Delt chili Cookoff, which pitted many greek organizations, clubs, and even local businesses against each other for the best chili in Hanover. While the boys did not take home the gold, their chili will certainly hold a special place in my stomach for years to come.

Kourosh Saghri and Alec Pelton serving up chili at the cookoff

Prior to the festivities of winter carnival, the brothers hosted our semi-termly academic talk, featuring government professor Brendan Nyhan. A specialist in political scandal and applied statistical methods, Nyhan talked about the advent of "fake news" in the 2016 election cycle, and the scary truths surrounding human responsiveness to alternative facts. A large contingent of our very politically involved undergraduate brotherhood came for the pizza and stayed for the fake news, as many eyes were opened by some of Nyhan's most recent research findings. Many thanks to James Howe '17, our academic chair, for setting up the wonderful talk.

James Howe and Professor Nyhan next to the "burning dumpster"of the 2016 political cycle

Professor Nyhan addressing the brotherhood

Alas came along the Sunday of Winter Carnival, and yet there was still much to do! The Tri-Kap IM basketball team had gone 4-0 in its regular season to earn a top seed in the playoffs against Sig-Ep. The battle was hard fought, as Sig-Ep showed up with their full A-team. The refs let the boys play, and the game turned into a rugby match. Unfortunately, with just seconds left, Sig-Ep hit a foul shot to go up three and the men of Tri-Kap could not hit the three pointer to tie it up. It was a great season, but alas, our championship must wait til next year. Thank you to all of the brothers who participated throughout the season. Onto softball in the Spring!

An eventful carnival full of icecraft and blizzardry it was, and all involved had a heck of a time. In the coming weeks, the brotherhood looks forward to multiple tails events, lock-in, and the introduction of the 6 winter new members as full brothers of Tri-Kappa.

Friday, January 27, 2017

The undergraduates are proud to announce the introduction of six new members into our brotherhood. Winter rush took place this past Friday, and the undergraduates came out in full force to welcome our new members. As a reference point, most winter rush classes contain 2-3 new members, so this one was especially successful. A huge thank you to our rush chairs, Johnny Emanuel '19, Kevin Hoffer-Hawlik '19, and Jason Kim '19 for their fabulous work over the past few weeks.

We cannot wait to see what these young men will bring to the brotherhood. In the meantime, the rush chairs and the rest of the brotherhood are already looking ahead to next year's rush, as we will host our first rush event for the class of 2020 in the near future. As the rush chairs like to say, "The rush game never sleeps."

Tuesday, January 10, 2017

We're back! Despite the bitter cold (-5 fahrenheit yesterday with windchill), the brothers of Tri-Kap have returned home to our hallowed halls. We are excited for what promises to be quite the winter term--welcoming a handful of new members into our historic brotherhood, watching hours upon hours of football in the Great Hall (beginning last night--what a game), embarking on a journey to Montreal in late February, and, of course, the fateful hour of 10pm each Wednesday.

1 Webster in all its glory

But of course, when its this cold and dark up in ol' Hanover, we sometimes cannot help but to think back to warmer times in 16F. From formal at the Engine Room to a wonderful faculty mixer (thank you James Howe '17), from Thursday night BarHop to hanging with the Tri-Kap pup Maia Hobart, the latter days of 16F were certainly ones to remember.

Tri-Kap takes the Engine Room for 16Formal

James Chartouni '19 and John Mbugua '19 chat with professors at the 16FacultyMixer

Pup Maia Hobart poses for a 16Foto

The seniors continued their Thursday night tradition at BarHop with 16FreeBeer

Following the fall term, this winter break saw brothers of Kappa Kappa Kappa doing anything but sitting around. Marcus Reid '18 (better known as Ill Fayze) dropped a new track, Offended Remix (ft. Ill Fayze). Be sure to check out his awesome work on Soundcloud here. Brothers Jeff Lang '17, Joe Minichiello '17, and Chris Loughlin '17 embarked on their first trip to Vegas. But most impressively, Sam Libby '17, our illustrious treasurer,represented Dartmouth in the Fed Challenge as the team took first place. Congratulations Sam!

While we have seen some good times pass at the end of 2016, the brothers of Tri-Kap are excited to take on the new year. As always, if you ever find yourself in the Upper Valley, please reach out and remember that 1 Webster will forever be your home.

Tuesday, November 01, 2016

Homecoming 2016 has come and gone, and what a weekend it was indeed! The undergrads had a fabulous time welcoming Kappa brethren young and old back to 1 Webster Avenue.

The week began on Wednesday, with the annual New Member dance as the young men of Kappa opened for the Sheba dance group. The boys were extremely excited for their performance, and, by all accounts, "crushed it". Many thanks to Sydney Wijngaarde '17, the dance captain, for choreographing and coordinating the dance.

The '19s were psyched in preparation for their dance

Thursday and Friday raced by as alums continued to trickle back into our hallowed halls. One highlight in particular was the delivery of our newest Tri-Kap artifact: a marble bench donated by the class of 1960 in honor of their late brother. Many thanks to John Mitchell '60 for the delivery and the imparting of many nuggets of Tri-Kap history. It is always a thrill to learn about the evolution of the house.

John Mitchell '60 and President Ted Poatsy '17 shaking hands over the placement of the new bench

As usual, the homecoming bonfire was burning bright on Friday night, and the Dartmouth community came out in full force to watch. The Tri-Kap brothers were similarly out in full force; some on shift for Dartmouth EMS (Joe Minichiello '17), some receiving awards for athletic achievements (John Lundgren '73), and others just enjoying the tradition (see below). Despite the cold and some raucous behavior by '20s, the fire still burned bright as ever this homecoming.

Saturday morning was the culminating experience: a wonderful barbecue put on by the undergraduate brothers before the Dartmouth vs. Harvard football game at 1:30pm. From '67 to '17 and many years in between, brothers of all ages gathered at the house for some barbecue and good conversation. Kevin Kim '15, honorary grillmaster, has the undergrads' thanks for owning the grill during this event.

Alumni and brothers mingling in the great hall

Kevin Kim '15 and brothers at the grill scene

We can't thank everyone enough for their contributions to this fine establishment and for continuing to visit and impart wisdom to the undergraduates as we navigate our Dartmouth and Tri-Kap experiences. A special thanks to Al Forbes '82 who stayed at the lodge for the entire weekend and was generous enough to complete a Black Book session with a variety of brothers and new members. That sort of genuity is a hallmark of the Tri-Kap brotherhood, and we thank Al for embodying that this weekend.

Monday, October 24, 2016

And we're back! My apologies for the lack of posts recently. Senior year remains a busy time in the Dartmouth student's career.

To start with, I bring you all a tale of epic academia--the great success that was our fall faculty mixer. This past Friday, the brotherhood invited a variety of faculty from all departments to the Kappa lodge to enjoy light refreshments and good conversation. As in the past, the event was extremely well received by brothers and faculty alike, including President Phil Hanlon and his wife Gail, who were both present for a good portion of the mixer. Many thanks to our academic chair James Howe '17 for organizing the event. We hope to continue this as an annual or semi-annual event, and hope to expand our attendees to local alumni as well.

New Member James Chartouni '19 chats with a professor

Brothers and faculty mingled in the Great Hall on Friday afternoon

Secondly, this week is Homecoming, and the undergraduate brotherhood cannot wait to welcome alumni young and old back to the new 1 Webster. Come see the new house, hang out with the newest members of the brotherhood, and reminisce with old friends. The undergrads will be hosting a barbecue at 11am on Saturday before the football game to welcome back our elder brothers. We hope to see you there!

Maia Hobart collecting her fair share of sticks

The new entryway

One instance of the new strip lights that now decorate and populate the house

As always, please reach out if you have any questions or are ever in the Hanover area. We always look forward to meeting our brothers.

Thursday, September 15, 2016

We're back. After what sounds like another feasty and fabulous sophomore summer, the seniors have returned to their hallowed halls to begin the final stretch before adulthood finally catches up to us.

We could not be more pleased with the progress that the '18s have made on turning the new house into a new home for the brotherhood. Beach furniture has been fully installed and has turned the space into one of the top evening hangout spots on campus. The basement decorations have gone up as well, and the bottles will be soon to follow. Big thanks to Rob Sayegh '18 and Cody Pennypacker '18 for spearheading those renovation items. Some of the key issues with the house, such as lack of AC in the basement and faulty fire alarms, are also being addressed by the legendary Bruce Williamson and the efforts of the Alumni Board of Directors. In sum, looking good.

1 Webster looking fine on a September morning

The brotherhood is looking forward to hosting and initiating a new class of new members back in our hallowed halls at the end of September. As always, if you are in the area, do not hesitate to reach out or stop by. Your new home at Dartmouth is up and running.

Friday, June 10, 2016

Another spring term has passed, and it's that time of year again. Time for the underclassmen to say goodbye to our beloved seniors. It has been an emotional few weeks for us all, as it is never easy to say farewell to those who have been fixtures in life for the past few years. Not to mention dealing with the stress of finals, looking critically at our budget for the summer and coming year, and continuing to move final elements into the new house. But regardless, we gave the seniors of Tri-Kappa the best send-off we could.

It started with a fantastic formal on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend. What better place to come together as a brotherhood one last time than Tri-Kap's go-to formal venue: Lake Morey Resort. The event was well attended by all classes despite proximity to finals period, and all enjoyed the beautiful views, great food, and quality music. Thanks to the social chairs, Chris Loughlin '17 and John French '17 for their work to put the event together. Pictures below.

Josh Schoenbart '16 and date

Brett Szalapski '15 and date

Charles Cai '16 and date

Harrison Han '16 and date

Mir Faiyaz '16 and Eric Chalif '16

Josh Tupler '16 and Keaton Renta '16

Hector Iturbe '16 and date

And of course, keeping with Tri-Kap tradition, the brothers came together for the annual bequests gathering during the first day of reading period. Though the senior class was not particularly large this year, the bequests of Tri-Kap history and the recounting of emotional stories lasted through dinner.

From all of the sophomore and junior brothers, we sincerely wish the seniors the best in their adventures and endeavors moving forward. The brotherhood will miss them, and will honor their memory through carrying on and protecting the traditions of Tri-Kap as they did before us.

The sun sets on 16S and the new house

The brothers in their favorite shirts for the yearly house pic

I am happy to pass on the responsibility of maintaining the Pillar and Shield blog to Abraham Herrera '18, the sophomore summer vice president. I will be back in touch in the fall!

Sunday, May 22, 2016

The weekend you all have been waiting for, Green Key Weekend 2016 has come and gone. And what a weekend it was.

The undergraduate brothers were extremely excited to welcome the alumni back to the house. It's always awesome to see a large diversity of classes return from all walks of life to reconnect with old friends, reminisce, and meet the new brothers. We want to thank all graduates who returned for their respect of the many new rules and policies involved in our changing campus. As Dartmouth changes, Tri-Kap must adapt as well, though rest assured that our core values and traditions will always be upheld.

Saturday of Green Key traditionally features initiations and corporations, both of which were a great success this year. The alumni board officially initiated a number brothers, both '18s and some '17s. It was a beautiful thing to witness the persistence of these historically Green Key traditions after a hectic, nomadic year for the undergraduates.

We could not have been blessed with better weather and such a great new space to celebrate the best weekend of the year. The undergrads look forward to continue building strong relationships with our graduates next month during Commencement and Reunions.